Monday, January 31, 2000

Evil Avatar SoF Demo Review -- 9:22 pm CST, Update by A.T. Hun

Harvey Meeker over at Evil Avatar has slapped up a quick review of the Soldier of Fortune demo. As I mentioned before (story) I like the demo alot, but some of the violence is a bit too realistic for my tastes. But that can be turned down so no biggie.

The Master comments: I remember replying to a Kenn Hokestra .plan update back on 6/14/98, with what I thought would be cool in SOF. I got kinda scary, but it WAS a fun email to write:

What do I expect of SOF?

Easy. I expect to be dropped into a lake by a helicopter, swim up a river, crawl through some weeds and trees, blow away some guards on some guard towers, smoke that dude on patrol with a silenced pistol, free the hostages/mias/etc,etc, and then NUKE the F'ing place.

Sorry, didn't mean to lose control there.

It would be really cool to whip out some real weapons (RPG, Stinger, M60, motar, artillary, air strike with Napalm, M16, AK, Claymore, Beretta, SMG, REAL physics grenades, tactical nuke, etc). I think I'd wet myself with glee. If you can bring me into the game to the point that I really think I'm crawling through a misquito infested jungle with intent to maim and I could have a real blast.

Ironically, now that I have a son, I don't think the above is so cool :-/

A.T. Hun comments: I can't believe you save year-and-a-half-old email. Hopefully you've learned how to spell mosquito since then :)

Missile Command -- 9:15 pm CST, Update by A.T. Hun

Props to the boyz at Voodoo Extreme for giving notice of a demo of Hasbro's remake of the classic Missile Command. I wasted way too many hours playing that game in my youth. I may just have to download the updated version.

UT Bugs -- 9:07 pm CST, Update by A.T. Hun

Epic has posted a list of bugs and other "issues" with the 405b patch. I get the mipmap corruption that they mention with my TNT sometimes. The problem is that moving to NVIDIA 3.x drivers causes my other D3D games to barf. Oh well. Thanks Blue's News.

Point Release news -- 8:04 pm CST, Update by The Master

Robert Duffy of id updated his .plan with word on the full point release for all clients:

The point release is still in progress. We are addressing several things, among them auto downloading, mod support, cheating, and a few other things. It is moving into testing now and should be done "soon".

One area that we are working hard to improve on is releasing things for all three platforms at the same time. As we have still not released the final point releases for the Macintosh or Linux based systems, the new point release will be available in all three flavors at the same time.

Half-Life Sale -- 1:06 pm CST, Update by A.T. Hun

I saw in the Best Buy circular (no affiliation, yadda, yadda) that they have the Half-Life Adrenaline Pack for $34.99 (after a $10 rebate). It includes Half-Life, Team Fortress, and the new Opposing Force add-on. Seems like a pretty good deal for those of you who haven't purchased Half-Life yet (like me).

Hook Responds -- 10:58 am CST, Update by A.T. Hun

Brian Hook has posted his rant, er, response to Graeme Devine's bashing of massively multiplayer role playing games (story). My standpoint remains the same: I refuse to pay $50 for a game for the privilege of paying $10/month to play it. Sorry.

Obi Wan Shots -- 10:41 am CST, Update by A.T. Hun

The Obi Wan Network has some screenshots from LucasArts' forthcoming shooter Episode I: Obi Wan. This game was announced in May, but very little has been said about it since. LucasArts doesn't even have a product spotlight on it yet. Trying to get more information from the above site was a bit like pulling teeth because 1/2 the stuff doesn't work. Oh well.

Return to Wolfenstein Announced -- 10:24 am CST, Update by A.T. Hun

Activision has announced that Gray Matter Interactive Studios (formally from Xatrix) will be making Return to Wolfenstein, a follow-up to id's Wolfenstein 3D. Here's a snip:

Like the original id game, players assume the role of William J. "B.J." Blazkowicz, the Allies' bad boy of WWII espionage. The fate of the free world hangs in the balance as B.J. battles against the sadistic machinations of a Nazi war machine bent on world domination. This latest sequel will reflect the same over-the-top comic book style of the original Wolfenstein 3D. However, by using the unparalleled graphics technology of the QUAKE III Arena(TM) engine and a new scripting system, Return to Castle Wolfenstein will pull the player further into a chilling storyline filled with frightening tales of bio-engineering and the occult. Devotees of multiplayer action will be able to jump online and frag-it-out within the unique Wolfenstein world.

This could be cool, provided that they don't bring along Xatrix' patented Curse Like A Sailor (tm) technology. Thanks Blue.

Sunday, January 30, 2000

UT Bonus Pack Maps -- 4:36 pm CST, Update by A.T. Hun

Epic's Cliff Bleszinski made a post of the GT forums listing the maps that will be in the much-anticipated Unreal Tournament Bonus Pack:

Current Map List (subject to change)

DM-Malevolence
DM-Agony
DM-ArcaneTemple
DM-Shrapnel][
DM-Healpod][
DM-Cybrosis][
DM-Mojo][

CTF-Cybrosis][
CTF-Hydro16
CTF-Darji16
CTF-Noxion16

Cliff

No official word on when said goodies will be out. The total download size should be in the neighborhood of 15 megs. Thanks Unrealism for the link.

Quake3 Server Howto for Linux -- 3:39 pm CST, Update by J.t.Qbe

Ready to set up your Q3 server under Linux? Some die hard Q3 fans have been converting to Linux just to run the server. For details, check out the Quake3 Server Howto over at Linux.com. It looks a little skimpy to me, but what do I know? I only have original Quake!

GameSpy Dev. Week-Marc Laidlaw -- 2:58 pm CST, Update by The Master

Very interesting article on GameSpy titled "Strength of Character", written by Marc Laidlaw of Valve. Good read-and really points on the place where Half-Life excelled, in the strength of story delivered by actual characters in the game.

Ultima: Ascension No Longer Sucks? -- 1:06 pm CST, Update by A.T. Hun

Well, that's what some of Origin's developers are claiming, according to this news post on Evil Avatar. They (Origin)almost sound like we should congratulate them for finally giving us a game that is not a complete and utter waste of money. Imagine my gratitude.

Update I reread that news post and apparently Origin has closed the Ultima: Ascension forums to posts, with the argument that the game is now "perfect". As if.

Q3A Rocket InstaGib -- 1:02 pm CST, Update by A.T. Hun

I just saw on PlanetQuake the news of a mini-mod that lets you play InstaGib deathmatch in Q3A with the rocket launcher instead of the railgun. It seems to me that it would lose something in the translation, but I figured that The Master would love it. You can get it from Zappy's highly informative homepage.

Super Bowl Sunday -- 12:18 pm CST, Update by A.T. Hun

Well, it's the biggest day in advertising today, the Super Bowl, between two teams whose names escape me for the moment. I'll probably watch it, but only because there aren't any hockey games on ESPN.

Past Two Days' News

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